


The Green-Eyed Experimental Variable

by MistressKat



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Ficlet, Jealousy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-04 05:04:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12162099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistressKat/pseuds/MistressKat
Summary: Radek tests a hypothesis with most gratifying results.





	The Green-Eyed Experimental Variable

**Author's Note:**

> Written for randomly selected fandom and prompt (unexpected jealousy leads to revelation of feelings)

“…and then Dr Roozman outlined a new formula for calculating apparent magnitude with a non-Earth reference point. It was all rather interesting because he—”  
  
“Got it wrong?” Rodney asks, voice sharp and arms crossed over his chest.   
  
“Well yes,” Radek concedes, laughing. “But for someone who does not know that intergalactic travel is a possibility, it was a very good guess.”  
  
Rodney huffs, clearly unimpressed.   
  
“Then later he—”  
  
“What?” Rodney interrupts. “Did he walk on water? Shoot rainbows out of his ass? I mean, do tell! What did the Amazing Dr Roozman do for his next trick?”  
  
Radek blinks, taken back by the level of sarcasm, dialled all the way to openly hostile. Alright, so he may have been going on about his recent trip to the Annual conference of the European Academy of the Sciences but it’s not as if they had many chances to such things and Radek had thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with old friends… and make some new ones.   
  
Rodney’s reaction though… There was something there, something more than simple boredom at Radek’s conference stories.   
  
“No…” Radek tilts his head, taking in Rodney’s pinched expression and the way the man keeps stealing glances in his direction when he thinks Radek isn’t looking. “We went for dinner,” he finishes, adding: “Just the two of us.”   
  
The last part is a lie – there’d been a group of at least two dozen of them – but Radek prefers to call it an experimental variable. What kind of scientist would he be if he didn’t test the hypothesis, especially one as outlandish as the one slowly taking shape in his mind right now?  
  
“You did what?!” Rodney’s face is a mixture of surprise and dismay. “Why? Were you…? I mean, did you…?”  
  
Then again… What was that expression the Americans used? If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck…  
  
“So what if I did?” Radek asks, bolder now. “What is it to you who I spend my time with?” It only takes three steps to cross the room to where Rodney is standing by the lab whiteboard. Radek moves slowly enough to give Rodney a chance to back away if he wants, but the man seems rooted to the spot.   
  
“I… No! Nothing!” Rodney splutters. “I don’t care if…” He seems to choke before finishing what Radek is now sure would be a lie. Or at least he hopes so.   
  
“No?” He lays a hand on Rodney’s tense arm. “You do not care who I go out to dinner with? Who I…” He licks his lips, catches Rodney’s gaze following the movement. “Who I kiss? Who I take to my bed?”  
  
Rodney looks crestfallen at Radek’s words. “You…” He swallows, avoids Radek’s eyes. “I can look into getting Dr Roozman into the Stargate programme?” he offers, voice stripped of all emotion. “If he’s as good as you say, I’m sure he would make a fine addition to—”  
  
“You what?” It’s Radek’s turn to be stunned. “Let me get this correct: You would be prepared to get Dr Roozman shipped to Atlantis just because I… slept with him?”  
  
Rodney clearly takes Radek’s hypothetical as a confirmation of events, judging by the way his face falls. “No,” he says, shaking his head. “Not because of that. But if you… If he makes you happy, I would… try. For you. Provided of course,” he adds defiantly, “his scientific contribution is up to our standards.”  
  
“Well, it might be,” Radek says, grinning now, “but we’ll never know.”  
  
“What?” Rodney frowns, his arms falling to his sides. “But I thought…?”  
  
“Rodney,” Radek enunciates carefully, “I do not want Dr Roozman on Atlantis. And, just to be clear, I did not kiss him or… anything else either, beyond having an enjoyable chat about his recent research project.”  
  
“But…?”  
  
“I just wanted to see if you cared if I had. Or would.”  
  
Rodney stares at him wordlessly for a long moment before looking away. “I shouldn’t,” he whispers finally, which is as good as an admission. “I don’t have the right.”  
  
It’s easy then to close the final distance between them, to step into the space left by Rodney’s arms. “What if I gave it to you?” Radek lifts a hand to cup Rodney’s jaw, thumb tracing the surprised ‘O’ of his mouth. “What if I wanted you to care?”  
  
Rodney’s answer to that is long and thorough and gratifyingly non-verbal.


End file.
